This is a weird time of year that sneaks up on us. We knew that the year was winding down, we knew the date was coming, and then suddenly, it's here.
The last day of 2024.
Faced with a calendar turning over, we suddenly have to get serious about the vague plans we had for "next year." Because that year is almost here. Those resolutions we were thinking about, that we'd been kicking around? The things we were going to start, the habits we were going to quit? All our runway has run out. Now we have to decide. Will we commit to them? Will we make a serious go at it in 2025?
Or not.
It's kind of mindblowing to think how many of us are coming simultaneously to this same crossroads—the kind that Hercules came to thousands of years ago in the hills of Greece, the one that inspired Zeno to start Stoicism. Across the globe, millions of people all decide to embrace change—to get in shape, to start that big project, to be more present for their families, to give back, to finally read those books gathering dust on their shelves.
Or…they'll tell themselves, "It's just another day."
They'll tell themselves that they'll start when they get back to the office. That one more drink won't make a difference, that they don't have to be so strict about it…after all, it's still the holidays! They are already deferring, making excuses, choosing the easyway—the betrayal of self that Hercules knew he could not make.
"You don't love yourself enough," Marcus Aurelius writes in Meditations as he worked on a habit you might be thinking about starting this year (waking up early). "Or you'd love your nature too," he says, "and what it demands of you."
So here you are today, staring down the barrel of another year. The truth is, the best time to demand more from yourself was years ago. But the second-best time? It's right now.
Do what your nature demands. Choose to challenge yourself this year. Make a firm and clear resolution. Stop delaying.
You are out of runway. You are at a crossroads. Make the right call.
The Daily Stoic 2025 New Year New You Challenge begins tomorrow. It's a set of 21 actionable challenges, presented one per day, built around the best Stoic practices to help you have an awesome year.
We've been doing this challenge every year for the last seven years. Thousands of Stoics all over the world come for three weeks of new and unique challenges designed to help them get the best out of themselves and start the year off with a bang.
Join us.
Put any missed opportunities from the past behind you and repeat this passage from Epictetus:
"From now on, then, resolve to live as a grown-up who is making progress, and make whatever you think best a law that you never set aside. And whenever you encounter anything that is difficult or pleasurable, or highly or lowly regarded, remember that the contest is now: you are at the Olympic Games, you cannot wait any longer, and that your progress is wrecked or preserved by a single day and a single event."
Right now is your moment. Not Monday. Not "next year." Not "when things settle down." Now. Because every day you delay is a day you'll never get back.
This isn't about being perfect. It's about showing up. It's about expecting more from yourself today than you did yesterday. It's about making progress—not excuses. It's what a grown-up does.
So, what will you choose? Will you demand the best for yourself starting now? Or will 2025 be another year that passes you by?
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